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"I shall know some day," asserted
Dacey determinedly. "You are laugh
ing at me. Did you never hear of love
at first sight? A mere glance in the
moonlight bound you irrevocably to
your wife."
Hughes flushed and looked Con
scious. He evaded a direct reply by
saying lightly:
"Well, I am at least glad to see your
mind roused out of the torpor of your
habitual ennui. If you can take any
interest in pursuing this extravagant
phantom, keep it up. -Let me see,
though I believe you told me that
the accident was costly to you in
more ways than one?"
"You mean the trifle I lost?" ob
served Dacey.
"You call five hundred dollars in
money a trifle!"
"The money does not trouble me,"
replied Dacey carelessly. "I may
have lost it before the accident."
"Has it struck you," insinuated
Hughes, "that the conjunction of an
unknown young woman and your
missing pocketbook may have some
connection?"
"I would swear to the honor and
purity of that sweet soul," cried
Dacey.
"Have your way," laughed Hughes.
"I only hope you may find the real
to compare favorably with the ideal."
The friends separated, Hughes to
go home to his wife to smile over
"the ridiculous infatuation of Dacey,"
the latter to still more' determinedly
seek some trace of the mysterious
unknown whose bonny face was with
him everywhere.
After that He spent days and then
weeks in constant effort to trace
down the being he could not dismiss
from hisjthoughts. And then, one chill
blustering November night, as he sat
in the library of his lonely home gaz
ing moodily into the glowing grate, a
tap at the long French window
brought him to his feet as if a ma
gician's wand was announcing all in
all in a moment the culmination of
jus fondest dreams.
He saw a forlorn form appear be
fore the casement and falter there.
He saw a wan, agitated face and
dripping, storm-beaten garments. ' In
an instant he had drawn open the
window, and she, the lady of his
dreams, tottered into the room and
fell to the nearest chair, where she
dropped like a wilted flower.
Infinite pity swelled in his heart at
a sight of her helplessness, her woe
ful plight. Love reinspired sent his
heart beating high as he realized that
his long quest was over and done.
She raised her eyes at last to mur
mur his name, to draw from her
bosom the pocketbook he had lost.
"You are Mr. Dacey," she faltered.
This is yours, I must go."
"No! No!" cried Dacey, blocking
the way. Then he saw her reel with
a terrified cry. The windows behind
Dacey opened and a rough-looking
man intruded the man he had seen
once before with the girl.
"Ah, I have found you, have I,
Gloria?" hissed the intruder. "You
had that all of the time "
The speaker made a dive for the
pocketbook. Dacey put out his strong
arm.
"Do not harm him," pleaded the
girl piteously. "He has kept me a
prisoner, he has nearly starved me
because I would not give up the
pocketbook which I wrenched from
him. But he is my brother and it
was all his cruel lust for gold."
"I picked it up, did I not?" cried
the man. "I did not steal it At
least I am entitled to a reward-"
"Take it and go," said Dacey
sternly.
With a gloating cry of joy the man
sped from the room, holding the cov
eted money to his breast like a wild
beast clasping its prey. Dacey re
closed the windows, pressed a button
In .the wall and told the servant who
answered to summon his widowed
sister.
"Sit down, please," spoke Dacey,
as wondering Leah Davelin entered
the room. "I have a story to tell."